


Break These Chains

by Shatterpath



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Real World, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 06:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1972563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU - real world; Mayor Regina Mills is struggling with an alcohol problem ever since the death of her fiancé. A chance meeting with another parent from Henry's school, Robin Hood, starts her on the right track. However, when budget cuts in town force Mayor Mills to lay off a lot of people, social activist Robin Hood is at the forefront of the people protesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Break These Chains

**Author's Note:**

> (Note: I hemmed and hawed over this prompt because it was interesting and thoughtful and well outside my norm. My only regret is that I felt this piece was perhaps a bit rushed as it really cried out for something far more epic than this. Nonetheless, I enjoyed taking a crack at it!)
> 
> Written for Once Upon a Land. The challenge was to write a fic based on someone else's summary. I forgot to take note of the original creator and add that information here.

It wasn't a problem… exactly. Regina Mills spent a lot of time telling herself that on the nights when everything just got to be too much. Those morning afters when she woke with a filthy-tasting mouth and her head spinning with memories no child, that no woman in love should have to deal with. That she hadn't been a child in decades, that she had lost the only man she had ever loved a lifetime ago didn't matter in the slightest. Mother and Daniel haunted her still.

At least she wasn't a friendly drunk and only Graham had ever participated in the 'walk of shame', as they always ended up back at her place. At least since Henry became part of her family.

Those nights had become even rarer once he had come along.

But the memories were still too much sometimes and the lure of the oblivion called with its dark promise. Frazzled and hung-over, Regina rushed into the school, desperately hoping that her careful and practiced preparations were enough to not get her into hotter water than she could handle. Henry would be so disappointed in her, always seeming to know…

The cracking blow came out of nowhere, turning her vision white and speckled as she went reeling. A voice shouted close, too close, and strong arms yanked her into a muscled body as she lost all sense of up and down.

That's how they'd met. Regina, distracted and at the tail end of one of her low points, Robin distracted and faintly aggravated with his bored son and the hard door pushed by the latter and caught by the former. A well-executed catch, a visit to the Emergency Room and a cracked nose and pair shiners later, they had managed to keep bumping into one another. Though under much more civilized circumstances.

Yes, his name really was Robin Hood and he took Regina's helpless giggling like a trooper, his expression amused and long-suffering. And it turns out he'd met his wife, gone now to cancer, by getting into a car accident with the woman. That sobering fact had made Regina fight the inappropriate giggling, but he'd cracked her resolve by joking that it seemed to be the only way he could meet women, cringing sheepishly as he took in her bruised face. She'd waved off the groveling, no matter that he was good at it, knowing the hard blow of the heavy school door had knocked some sense into her. Turns out Henry knew young Roland-- who was so cute it should be illegal-- having tutored the lad in how to tie his shoes earlier in the school year and they got along well despite the age gap between them. The six year old was already losing his British accent after being in the United States for almost a year and took an immediate shine to Regina, particularly as she took his fear of monkeys more seriously than his father did. It was a powerful phobia that left Robin baffled, but Regina remembered a long stretch of several years when her little man could barely sleep on his own after a spider had been found in his bed. Roland's hugs brought back sweet memories of her own son at the same age and made Henry, prickly in the throes of adolescence, suddenly clingy.

Robin's gentle kisses proved that she wasn't as broken as she had believed and Regina's dreams grew gentler as she remembered not just Daniel's violent death, but the warmth of his smile too.

But that dark, broken part of her sneered that the sweet little romance couldn't last.

Turns out that oily voice was spot on… again.

It started with the layoffs. Every signature was painful, but what could Regina do? The town coffers looked like her coffee pot after a long day. Empty. There was no choice but to start the cuts that would inevitably lead to chaos, to people moving away, to stresses the sleepy town had never dealt with before. But Regina couldn't make money just appear like magic.

Tears and threats couldn't make the money appear. Henry getting into fights couldn't make the money appear. Raising taxes, wishful thinking, a bloody bake sale on the town hall's damn lawn wouldn't make enough money appear to make any sort of difference. Fishing vessels had left for richer waters and few tourists made the effort to brave the wilds and moose to come visit, no matter how picturesque Storybrooke might be.

Regina had no ideas and no one was coming to her with any either. The dead ends had her looking longing at her liquid crutch, tucking desperate fingers into her secret stashes that had lain dusty for some time. Even Robin had fallen off the planet it seemed, both he and young Roland gone without a trace. Well, not really. She knew they had gone back to England, ostensibly to visit family.

The oily voice said he wasn't coming back.

When he burst into her office with half the recently pink-slipped town employees in tow and a grim look on his face… Regina found herself wishing that he had.

Turns out the odd fellow who had charmed her so effortlessly could be a steely-eyed hardass too. The change tore at her self-control, rattled her fragile control that she had gained over some of her demons, leaving her so desperate for a drink she could almost taste it.

They are angry, frightened and loud, a wave of desperation and misery that wants to make Regina run screaming from the building. Don't they know there's nothing that she can do? Then… how could they. She had been mayor of this small town for a great many years now, having arrived here to begin again with a skill set that made her perfect for the job. The failure to keep her beloved adopted town running is something that Regina wasn't certain that she could stay sane with.

The pressures of trying to stay away from her liquid crutch, of watching Storybrooke suffer, were like a stone in her throat, suffocating her and making unshed tears burn her eyes. The breakdown was close, far too close for comfort. And that just would not do. Her mother's cold sneer of a voice was every bit as controlling and virulent as she had been in life. A lady must always be in control, be dignified and aloof and sharply aware.

When Regina stood abruptly, the babble of voices trailed off in surprise. With shaking hands, she gathered up the few treasures she kept at her imposing stone desk, photos and a few treasures from Henry, and stuffed them in the attaché case brought up from the floor.

"What… what are you doing?" Robin questioned, completely flummoxed by the turn in events. He wasn't happy with how things were spiraling out of control, how he had been dragged back into a life he had almost left behind. Things had been every bit as bad in the lands he'd left behind, desperate people without a purpose looking for someone to blame. He'd thrown stones, cut power lines, shouted insults and waved signs with the masses before educating himself, living like a beggar to try and save the dignity of the land that nurtured him.

It had rarely worked, but, by God, he had tried!

He hadn't wanted to be that man again, not in opposition of this fascinating woman with her slick, cool veneer and warm, loving heart. All he'd wanted was a quick pint after a brutal flight across the Atlantic and Roland at last falling into an exhausted sleep. Just a simple pint and perhaps a bit of casual conversation before he too could sleep, no matter that is was barely afternoon. He'd earned it!

But he knew the sounds of the agitated crowd, the fear and anger, and could no more ignore the siren call than he could stop breathing.

Oh, but how he had never though how this would hurt her…

"I'm leaving," Regina spoke with her voice harsh to cover the tremble there, unwilling to look any of them in the eye. "As I have done everything in my power to keep this town from collapsing in on itself, resignation seems to be my only recourse. If someone will please let the town council know that I will formally tender my resignation within say, forty-eight hours, they can begin finding a replacement."

Regina might have run if not for her high heels and the blur of tears in her eyes, clutching the attaché case to her chest to cover up her shaking. Once again, failure and collapse had found her, shattered her resolve to stay away from the drink, to keep picking herself up and moving forward. All she could now was run away.

She almost made it out, through the door and nearly around the frame of it when Robin finally bolted, grabbing her elbow. "Regina, wait!"

Choking on the tears, she struggled to escape, barely hearing Robin slam the door shut to give them some small privacy. Strong arms contained her struggles with careful gentleness, just as he had that very first day. For her pain was just as real, despite it not showing as more than harsh breathing and wet tracks on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he murmured against her dark locks, knowing he'd been a fool. "I let them wind me up, sweetheart. Doesn't matter that I meant well."

Shaken, but glad for the comforting embrace after the shock of the stranger he'd become in her office, Regina was torn over how to deal with him right now. After all, what were they to each other? Certainly, there was attraction and flirting and kisses, but was it something real? Too exhausted to think, she only shook her head silently and cursed her quiet tears.

"I'll take you home. Whatever solutions might be found, it won't be like this. Rest and unwind and then you can tell me your side of the story."

Tell her side of the story. Now that was a gift few had offered before.

It was a crossroads for two wounded souls with expectations of being hurt yet again, but hoping for better. Letting the attaché case fall away where it had been acting as a barrier between their bodies, Regina hesitated, but chose hope. In the embrace of a stranger who might just be more, they each found more strength then they had alone.

For now, that would be enough.


End file.
